Did you know that the 64 – Grenet and 468 – Express Pierrefonds Gouin bus lines now travel in a new, exclusive reserved lane for buses and taxis?

These reserved lane sections are the latest to add to those on Highways 20 and 40, on boulevard Pie-IX, Sherbrooke West and Viau, with its bus-bike-taxi pilot project? No doubt about it, 2014 was a good year for deploying new bus priority measures.

In a recent survey, you suggested that we continue to install bus priority measures. We heard you and we will keep up with their deployment! In the next few years, other major roadways in Montréal will be added to the existing network of reserved lanes. In fact, our goal is to provide you with priority measures along 375 km of roads in time for Montréal’s 375th anniversary in 2017.

Bus Priority Measures (BPM) consist of various installations on the road system that ensure priority is given to public transit vehicles, thereby improving the speed and on-time delivery of service. BPMs include reserved lanes and priority traffic signals.

In order to respond to the growing demand for public transit and the increasing needs of its clientele, the STM implemented the Bus Preferential Measures (BPM) program.

By 2017, when this program ends, some 115 bus lines will feature preferential measures, with the BPMs positively affecting more than 760 000 trips daily.près

Bus preferential measures (BPMs) are interventions on the road network that give priority to public transit and improve service efficiency and punctuality. BPMs include, in particular, reserved lanes and priority traffic lights for buses (for more details).

For you, this translates into reduced travel time and savings in both time and money. We associate all the BPMs with improved service and efficiency. And for good reason.

With the addition of the reserved lanes on Viau, there are now close to 180 km of reserved lanes on some 30 streets, and more than 100 intersections are equipped with priority traffic signals, all to make your travel more efficient!

As with the MR-63 and MR-73 métro cars, the AZUR train is also mounted on bogies that essentially propel the train. Bogies, or trucks, are an assembly of parts that include tires, suspension and drive axles.

Of all bogie functions, one that is of particular interest is the braking system.

The new metro cars will still feature one of the main characteristics that make it unique among others around the world: its wooden brake shoes. One of the requirements the STM gave the manufacturer was the provision of a quiet braking system without the usual screeching. In that respect, wooden brake shoes are still the best option for the bogie’s steel wheels.

Each wheel will therefore feature two wooden shoes, and these will continue to be produced in STM workshops with the same yellow birch wood soaked in peanut oil as currently used (rf)

During the heat wave of July 1 – 2, while thousands of Montrealers were either moving or settling into their new home, the STM and its partners were conducting tests on the new train washing system with the AZUR prototype. The train moved through a soap cycle, similar to a car wash, where it got washed, scrubbed, rinsed and dried from top to bottom. The entire operation took about nine minutes, and when AZUR came out, it was all shiny and clean!

How does it work?

The washing system features markers at the portal entrance that detect whether the arriving train is an MR-73 or the new AZUR. As the train moves forward through the washing station, sensors send out signals to activate pumps and scrubbing brushes. In case you’re wondering, the older MR-63 trains are washed elsewhere, at the Beaugrand minor repairs shop.

AZUR has travelled on all lines

Tests carried out to validate track clearance are completed. They consisted of running the AZUR prototype throughout the entire network, including way stations and tail tracks, and no major issues were reported. AZUR passed with flying colours!

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At the STM, we see far ahead and we see big! Public transportation means more to us than just environmental mobility; above all, it's a sustainable development project for our city. Our goal is to make mobility easier and greener, and to make breathing easier too.

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